We get more holidays than you. It's pretty standard that anyone employed gets four weeks off with holiday leave loading on top of their normal wage.

If we're sick we don't need to worry, we just go to the Doctor. Most GPs will bulk bill for anyone under 16 or on a pension, quite a few will bulk bill all their patients. That means we pay absolutely nothing. Our hospitals (unless you opt for a private one, of course) are free... all treatment and care is free.

We get more holidays than you. It's pretty standard that anyone employed gets four weeks off with holiday leave loading on top of their normal wage.

If we're sick we don't need to worry, we just go to the Doctor. Most GPs will bulk bill for anyone under 16 or on a pension, quite a few will bulk bill all their patients. That means we pay absolutely nothing. Our hospitals (unless you opt for a private one, of course) are free... all treatment and care is free.

Nobody relies on tips to have an adequate wage.

I was going to add some of this, as well. Although for some treatments, you may have to wait for quite a long time, it will eventually be free.

I had my first baby in our local hospital, was transferred by ambulance to a larger one for some surgery, spent the day there, and a subsequent 7 days back in our local hospital and paid not a cent.

Our constitution was based on the US constitution, with some substantial differences.

Factually speaking I don't think we can say our constitution is *based* on the US constitution. To me, that would imply some sort of causative link. I don't think there's any way that the good monarchists who wrote the constitution would have received inspiration from *gasp* revolutionaries. Against Mother England no less! Looking at the US constitution (the little that I have) it is fairly easy to see that it was written by people escaping from a repressive regime whereas ours reflects that it was more a mutual breakup.

-"socialised" healthcare. People mostly buy health insurance to avoid wait times and because there's a tax benefit. Nobody goes bankrupt from medical bills.-welfare. If you are unemployed in Australia, you are entitled to welfare in which you get money from the government. While you have to prove that your looking for work (unless your on the disability pension) you don't need to have previously had a job to get it. -Australia has compulsory superannuation. Your employer is legally obliged to pay 9% (it's supposed to be on top of but some companies try to bend the rules) of your pay into a super account (similar to your 401k?) You can't touch this money until you turn 55. It's going to go up to 12% by 2015.-our female prime minster was born in Wales. The opposition leader was born in London. Nobody makes a big deal about this. -She's also atheist and unmarried. Nobody really cares.-abortion is legal, the death penalty is illegal and hasn't been used since 1967 in any state or territory.-guns laws are pretty strict. And most Australians are happy that that's the case. You basically need a reason to have a gun, you can't get assault weapons legally, the gun has to be kept in a locked safe and the ammo needs to be locked up separately. -we have compulsory voting. If you're a citizen, or even a permanent resident, you have to vote, or you'll be fined. Our elections are always on a Saturday. So there doesn't tend to be the same deal over elections that I see when the US elections come up. And the difference between our parties is nowhere near what is it in the states. Both our main parties would be considered to be moderates. -the minimum wage is around $21 an hour. Nobody tips in Australia, unless it's rounding up the bill so you don't have to deal with change. This is why Aussies have a bad rep for not tipping, because we just don't understand it.

Our constitution was based on the US constitution, with some substantial differences.

Factually speaking I don't think we can say our constitution is *based* on the US constitution. To me, that would imply some sort of causative link. I don't think there's any way that the good monarchists who wrote the constitution would have received inspiration from *gasp* revolutionaries. Against Mother England no less! Looking at the US constitution (the little that I have) it is fairly easy to see that it was written by people escaping from a repressive regime whereas ours reflects that it was more a mutual breakup.

Andrew Inglis Clarke, the primary writer of our Constitution based it very closely on the US Constitution within the constraints of retaining the Monarchy. Our federal system was specifically based on the US system rather than the other possible option, the Canadian one. Our founding fathers agonised over whether the US Civil War was caused by deficiencies in the US Constitution or whether it was just about slavery (they decided slavery and hence went ahead, also adding the word indissoluble to avoid states succeeding in the way they had tried to in the US). Many of them spent quite a bit of time talking to people from the US to find out what were the good and bad parts of the US system and constitution.

The UK didn't have a written constitution and hence they needed something to base it on and the US was the one. They of course just used it as their jumping off point, changed it, used parts from others, rewrote extensively and so on, but many of the initial ideas and work came from the US one.

Remember that the American revolutionary War had ended 120 earlier and the US was no longer an enemy of the Empire. The Civil War was more in people's memories by then. So they absolutely received inspiration from "revolutionaries" who really no longer were but were friends.

I live in the depths of Australian suburbia and have to avoid kangaroos if I'm doing an early morning practice at the archery range. Also, I recently evicted a dugite from my back yard:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugite

Most Aussies are deeply cynical about politics and there doesn't seem to be as much razzamataz associated with our elections.

The legal drinking age is 18 and many of us enjoy an alcoholic beverage with our coworkers on a Friday afterwork.

I've noticed that American cultural traditions like showers are creeping in here. One Aussie tradition I love is "Christmas in July". It's a great excuse to have turkey and all the trimmings without dying of heat stroke.

I've read Downunder and At Home, but it's been a while since I read the former.

Us Aussies are generally laid back and have a tendency to not take ourselves too seriously. For instance, among males the words "old bastard" are usually a term of affection. And we do like poking fun at authority. We are only human, and it is nice to be reminded of that remind others of that.

We aren't very political, our last election had vote counting that lasted about a week and the prevailing attitude was "get on with it".

Boxing Day is when a lot of Aussie males, and some females, go into a cricket induced coma with the Boxing Day test. And we always win, even when we don't.

We don't have a lot of wedding traditions, they follow US and UK a bit but with a bit more of a laid back approach. It's perfectly fine to include registry info with an invite, just ON the invite is a bit too much. The couple will pay for it themselves, with sometimes contributions from family and friends. Who pays for BM dresses can go either way or halfway in our case, as long as you are upfront about it.

And we do have more public holidays here. Easter is typically a four day weekend.

I would like to know how Australians regard Bill Bryson's books about their country.

On a cruise, we were table-mates with natives of Sydney and the topic came up. They thought the books were totally inaccurate. What do other Australians think?

Enquiring minds want to know.

I haven't read any of them

Nor I.

My ex-inlaws liked them though.

I read one years ago. I couldn't give a detailed critique because it was so long ago, but I remember it as being an amusing tourist book. Then again, I wasn't looking for accuracy because really is ANY visitor to ANY country really going to get a true picture of what it's like?

Also, as a nation I think that although we are not overtly patriotic we do take critisism poorly from outsiders so that's going to be a minefield for anyone writing about Australia. It's a bit like I'll say what I like about my family, but if YOU say something...

Us Aussies are generally laid back and have a tendency to not take ourselves too seriously. For instance, among males the words "old bastard" are usually a term of affection.

I wuold just clarify this with: its the tone in which it is said, more than the words. Pretty much any sentence can be uttered in affection as well as in dispute.

Yes, tone is everything as is context. Such as using the phrase "Happy birthday, you old bastard" is perfectly acceptable among friends.

Other terms for your amusement:

Cheers = thanks, when used I'm the context of thanking someone. Usually informal,y thanking a friend or colleague.Bloke = older male, though the equivalent for females (Sheila) is generally not used except maybe in rural areas.She'll be right/she'll be apples = all is well or all is going to be well. Similar is "no worries" which is the problem you have is nor worth worrying about.Fair go = shorthand for "you're not being fair to me and/or someone else and you should be"Too right = an expression of agreementShout = to buy someone a drink and/or meal. It's both a verb "I'll shout you dinner" and a noun "it's your shout"And my favourite, which is hardly used anymore "flat out like a lizard drinking" which means extremely busy.